As they saw it – Infineon | AMA Pro
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: May 18th, 2009 - 5:59 pm
Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Leandro Mercado – Nails Down A Solid Second Place
Sonoma, Calif. – Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Leandro Mercado earned second overall in his third AMA Pro SuperSport race of the year during an exciting 18-lap, bar-to-bar battle at Infineon Raceway. The race temperature was in the mid-90s as the young riders raced fearlessly around the 11-turn course. In the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race, both Jamie Hacking and Roger Hayden had small crashes. Hacking was able to come back for 13th, while Hayden was unable to continue.
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PEGRAM RACING ADVANCES TWO CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AT INFINEON RACEWAY
A pair of aggressive rides reward rider Larry Pegram with sixth overall in the American Superbike Championship
Sonoma, Calif. (18 May 2009) – As a productive weekend comes to an end, Team Foremost Pegram Racing leaves Infineon Raceway with two top five finishes, advancing rider Larry Pegram to sixth overall in the championship.
Following Saturday’s race one battle to third position, rider Larry Pegram set his sights on overall advancement in the American Superbike Championship. As the crew made several changes to his Ducati 1098 R Superbike, Pegram set a goal of leaving Infineon sixth in the championship.
Sunday’s race two was held in comparable heat to Saturday’s scorcher, and when the flag dropped Pegram immediately propelled his Ducati 1098 R to fourth position- riding aggressively in pursuit of the number one spot. A failed overtaking maneuver on Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden enabled Geoff May and Josh Hayes to sneak through; dropping Pegram to sixth place. Pegram then twisted the throttle on his Ducati and put his head down, enabling a pass on Geoff May for fifth position. Once the Ducati got past May there was a significant gap to Hayes in fourth, which Pegram fought to the end to close. When the checkered flag fell Pegram took fifth position, and more importantly reached in his goal of sixth in the championship.
“Needless to say I’m really happy with what we have accomplished this weekend,” commented Pegram. “My team has been great and the Ducati ran strong all weekend. Leaving Infineon a solid sixth in the championship is a great feeling, and I’m ready to start fighting for fifth at Road America!”
Team Foremost Pegram Racing now heads back to their Ohio race shop, where the Ducati 1098 R will be rebuilt in preparation for round six of the AMA Pro Racing American Superbike Championship.
The next race will be held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 5-7.
For more information on Team Foremost Pegram Racing please visit www.pegramracing.com. To learn more about Ducati’s line of racing inspired motorcycles please visit www.ducatiusa.com.
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M4 Suzuki’s Cardenas Cards Another Daytona SportBike Sweep at Infineon
M4 Suzuki’s DiSalvo brings home 2nd place in Sunday’s race
Round 5 – AMA Daytona Sportbike Series
Sonoma, California
Infineon Raceway
May 15-17, 2009
Team M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas won both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races and took over the points lead in the AMA Daytona SportBike class at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, this weekend. This feat is Cardenas’ second AMA Daytona SportBike sweep in a row, and the result also marks his fifth win in the series this year. M4 Suzuki teammate Jason DiSalvo also celebrated an impressive weekend. The rider set the fastest lap time in Superpole and picked up pole position for both races and then he finished up in second place in Sunday’s event. Currently, DiSalvo is in fourth place overall in the AMA Daytona SportBike points chase.
Martin Cardenas – 1st place, Race 1 (Saturday) & Race 2 (Sunday):
“The weekend was good. At the beginning, it was a little bit tough because the pace that these guys were running was a little too much but then in every practice session we were able to close in a little bit. In Saturday’s race, the M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 worked awesome and I knew I could win. Today, it was a little bit the same. The bike was great, I think had a little bit of an issue with grip but for everybody it was the same because the tires were spinning a lot. But the Suzuki worked great all weekend and it’s been working awesome for three races and I want to thank the M4 Suzuki team for that.”
Jason DiSalvo – 2nd place, Race 1 (Sunday):
“We really wanted that number-one spot on Sunday and after (crashing) yesterday I was really gunning for it but Martin ran an incredible race. The last lap was flawless by him, actually by both of us. But we were just so evenly matched, that there was no place to make a move. Congratulations to both sides of the garage, they’ve really been working hard and they deserve this, and it’s great to see M4 Suzuki one/two on the podium today.”
M4 Suzuki Racing will race next at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, over the weekend of June 5-7, 2009.
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Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mladin Wins Infineon AMA Superbike Race 2
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Hayden gets another Infineon podium
Round 5 – AMA Superbike Series, Race 2
Sonoma, California
Infineon Raceway
May 15-17, 2009
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin returned to his race-winning ways in the second AMA Superbike race of the double-header weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, on Sunday afternoon. The six-time AMA Superbike Champion started from pole position on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000, got into the lead immediately and created a gap to take the win. This victory marks Mladin’s eighth win (out of a possible nine) this season and his 80th career AMA Superbike victory. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Tommy Hayden celebrated two podium positions this weekend, thanks to a third-place finish on Sunday that followed up his second-place finish on Saturday. This impressive result is Hayden’s sixth AMA Superbike podium finish of the 2009 season. Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki rookie Blake Young opted to sit out this race weekend after injuring his hand at the previous round at Barber Motorsports Park. Young hopes to be back racing at the next event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Mat Mladin:
“It was a tough one today. I had nothing left out there at the end of the race. I just went as hard as I could on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and kept going and going and going. Toward the end, I just tried to keep it clean and that’s that.”
Tommy Hayden:
“It was good to get two podiums this weekend. I kind of bounced back after a couple of rough races and I feel like we’re going in the right direction now. Today, it was a hard race. From the beginning, I got a pretty good start on my Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I was just trying to hold on. It was tough to run the pace but toward the midway point, it got a little easier. I was just kind of hanging there, though a couple of times I was able to close up on them in traffic but I made a mistake with a couple laps to go and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to close it back up after that.”
Blake Young:
“I got injured at Barber and I got off my pain killers and finished up my antibiotics to make sure I didn’t get an infection. I got back on the bicycle and started training. My finger felt really good, motion was coming back better and better every day. So I decided to come on out here and see what we could do because every day was getting so much better. Maybe we’d have a chance to ride the bike. But when I got to the track, I realized that if I tried to ride at this point I would just damage my hand. So we’re going to sit out this weekend and then go back to the doctor and keep it healthy and get it healed up for Elkhart Lake.”
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the weekend of June 5-7, 2009.
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Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Hacking Sneaks On To Podium with Last Lap Pass
Sonoma, Calif. – Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking made a spectacular last lap pass to finish second during a hot AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race at Infineon Raceway. Hacking’s run for his fifth podium of the season didn’t come easy as he had to make his way through the pack after a caution restart. Teammate Roger Hayden moved up and down in the running order, eventually finishing one spot better than his starting position in ninth.
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Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Hayden Back on the Podium at Infineon Superbike Race 1
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mladin brings home fifth place
Round 5 – AMA Superbike Series, Race I
Sonoma, California
Infineon Raceway
May 15-17, 2009
Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden picked up his fifth AMA Superbike podium position of the 2009 season in the first race of the double-header weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, on Saturday afternoon. The Kentucky native started the 22-lap race from the front row, thanks to a strong superpole showing. He ran up front and brought home second place. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin started the weekend strong by taking his fifth (out of a possible five) pole position of the year. In the race, the six-time AMA Superbike Champion got a great start and was out front but struggled a bit and wound up finishing in fifth position. Finally, Rockstar Makita
Suzuki rookie Blake Young opted to sit out this race weekend after injuring his hand at the previous round at Barber Motorsports Park. Young hopes to be back racing at the next event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Tommy Hayden:
“It feels good to get second place at Infineon. The last few races haven’t gone as well as the first few. Now I’m starting to feel like I’m getting back where I started the season at, and that feels good. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working great out there, it was hot and greasy for everyone but I felt like we had a good set-up. I’m happy with the result. I think we’ll have to improve and go faster on Sunday if we want to get this kind of result, so we’ll make a plan and try to go a little bit faster.”
Mat Mladin:
“Obviously, we’ve had better days. But, as I’ve said a few times, when you win as much as we have — as a team and as I have personally — there’s only one place to go if you have a bad day and you can’t go better than a win. So, today we struggled a bit and that’s the way it goes. Congratulations to Josh (Hayes), who’s been working hard – good on him. They deserved it today.”
Blake Young:
“I got injured at Barber and I got off my pain killers and finished up my antibiotics to make sure I didn’t get an infection. I got back on the bicycle and started training. My finger felt really good, motion was coming back better and better every day. So I decided to come on out here and see what we could do because every day was getting so much better. Maybe we’d have a chance to ride the bike. But when I got to the track, I realized that if I tried to ride at this point I would just damage my hand. So we’re going to sit out this weekend and then go back to the doctor and keep it healthy and get it healed up for Elkhart Lake.”
Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race again today at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California
